Name: Mushroom Soup
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 280 mL (1 ⅛ cups) white mushrooms; 280 mL (1 ⅛ cups) cremini mushrooms; 60 mL (¼ cup) vegetable oil; 30 mL (2 tbsp) onion, diced; 30 mL (2 tbsp) garlic, peeled and chopped; 15 mL (1 tbsp) whole wheat flour; 250 mL (1 cup) 2% milk or unsweetened fortified plant-based beverage; 250mL (1 cup) vegetable broth; 5 mL (1 tsp) fresh thyme, finely chopped; 60 mL (¼ cup) fresh chives, finely chopped

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Garlic + chivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,149 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Onion + chivetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,907 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Garlic + thymetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,608 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Thyme + chivetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together580 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

White and cremini mushrooms: Provide the main body and earthy flavour, and release moisture that cooks down into the soup.
Whole wheat flour: Thickens the broth and milk mixture as it simmers, giving the soup body.
Milk or plant-based beverage: Adds creaminess and richness, softening the soup's texture.
Vegetable broth: Forms the liquid base of the soup and carries the flavour of the other ingredients.
Onion and garlic: Build savoury, aromatic flavour as they soften in the hot oil.

The step that matters

Simmering after adding the flour, milk and broth. Flour thickens only when the liquid is heated enough and stirred, so the soup can turn lumpy or stay thin if it is not stirred and simmered long enough.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, garlic, wheat, flour, milk, thyme, chive):

Shallotfits better
Leekfits better
Spinachfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, garlic, wheat, flour, milk, thyme, chive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Chives	1 tbsp (3g)	1

Mushroom Soup

Mushroom Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

Make the soup

Serve

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)